Dust in the Skies: Hatchlings
by A.Friend410
Summary: Berk is back on their track to peace and some of the dragon riders now have a new quest, being parents. How hard can it be raising the next generation of Hooligans? Sequel to Dust in the Skies. Rating may change later on in the story.
1. Chapter 1: Another Morning

**Dust in the Skies: Hatchlings**

**Summary: Berk is back on their track to peace and some of the dragon riders now have a new quest, being parents. How hard can it be raising the next generation of Hooligans?**

**Chapter One: Another Morning**

Banging on the roof began to wake the sleeping man inside. He groaned and turned to his side pulling the fur over his head. A smile crossed his sleepy face when his out stretched hand touched the warm skin of another. Going back to cuddle with his sleep mate the noise above him continued to grow. The young teen cried in agony and he did his best to roll out of bed and not disturb his partner. His eyes glared at the ceiling as he made his way out of the room.

When the bedroom door closed, he went towards one of the chairs that held his vest. The teen did his best to put on the clothing minding his right side. The scar was setting in and he was thankful, but it would be a few more days before he did any back flips. Fully dressed he headed out the front door before the sound continued. The male did not move fast enough and he had to bite the inside of his cheek not to curse.

"Toothless! Would you please stop that! I'm outside already!"

An over ecstatic black scaled dragon came bounding down from the rooftop, bringing a couple shingles. The male groaned and put his head in his hands, but soon as the reptile was in front of him with his tail happily wagging, the teen was grinning.

"Good morning to you too, Bud." He scratched underneath the dragon's chin earning a belch of his morning breath. Reeling back the teen coughed and tried to get away from the smell. "Oh by Gods! Toothless! Why haven't we changed your diet yet?"

The black dragon cooed and nuzzled his rider, who was being playful right back. Soon both boys settled down and back off from their rough housing when the reptile caught sight of someone coming towards them. Two Vikings were heading towards the home carrying a few of their tools in hand. Both had smiles when greeting the recovering Viking.

"Good morning Hiccup."

"Morning," he said in a chipper tone.

"Ready to start on those construction ideas to your home?"

He fidgeted at that and he tried not to make eye con tact with the two gents, but it was proven difficult. "Well you see Eira was up all night heaving so she's still asleep."

"Ah morning sickness finally catching up with her huh lad?"

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed. His hand was on Toothless' neck trying to keep him calm, "besides I think I'm going to take this guy here on a flight around the island."

Both men gave each other a glance before questioning the boy, "Are you sure it's a good idea to leave Eira by herself?"

"And what if she wakes up while you're gone? Don't think she'll take too kindly to the news of you flying just yet."

"It will be fine, "he reassured them, "besides I'll be back before she even wakes up. What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

They looked at the teen as if he had a death wish, but allowed him to learn his lesson the hard way and bid him good-bye.

Hiccup turned to Toothless and without command turned so the human could hop on his saddle. Carefully the auburn hair male settled on the back of the lizard and hooked his prosthetic in the mechanism that controlled the tail. Holding onto the handles of the saddle, he leaned down to ask his friend, "Ready bud?"

With out hesitation the dragon launched them into the air to begin their flight.

In the said home, the person slowly started to stir. She tried her best to lie in bed with her eyes closed trying to fall back asleep. When that was being a pointless way of doing, so she tossed over to her side hoping the new change would help. It did not. In fact, it made it worse especially for her bladder. The small mound of her stomach only made her need to use the restroom more. The brunet rubbed her abdomen trying to ease the pressure off with no prevailed. Grunting she pushed herself off the bed, too tired to notice that her bedmate was missing.

"First, you keep me up all night heaving out nothing and now you can't even let me catch up on the few hours of sleep just because you want to use my bladder as a pillow," she complained.

After using the outhouse, she enjoyed the peaceful walk back to the house. Her hands rested on her four-month belly as she watched the island that was her home begin to wake. The intake of the sea air made her smile, but also it made her miss the long flights that her dragon and she use to travel. Now that was impossible to do since both were excepting. The trip she took behind her house was a wonderful sight. Another black scaled dragon lay curled up behind the structure and the human knew for a fact that underneath the dragons' soft underbelly was her precious egg.

The female smiled at her, but dared not approached for the female reptile was on edge without a den. It was also concerned all of them that the egg had not hatched yet. Most of the other eggs hatched within the week they were laid, bit it had been months now. Hiccup suggested it might be a dud and they should take it away before things became worse. Eira and with the help of Fishlegs convinced them otherwise because of the little information they actually had on Night Furies. Her blue eyes gleamed and went towards the front.

When opening the bedroom and checking in on her husband she was shocked. He was missing. At first, she kept herself calm telling herself that he was just out in the town somewhere. They boy were coped up inside their house for some time now and having some fresh air was good. She straighten a few things up before heading out once more. When she did, she went to Gobber's in search of her missing spouse. She figured that he would be up their hammering or sketching away at something.

Arriving at the black smith's hut, she saw the one armed and leg Viking whistling while fixing one of the many dragons' teeth. She cautiously walked up to the dragon and patted his head while the man was busy. He was always in the mood for a chat.

"Good morning lass. How are you feeling?"

She gave a small grin," just fine Gobber, if you don't count for the heaving I was doing all night."

"Morning sickness that bad for ya?"

She shrugged, "Not as bad as Ruffnut's thankfully."

He agreed and fed the dragon a fish for their cooperation and moseyed his way inside the hut. Eira followed and helped him continue his on to his schedule by handing him a few tools that were out of reach. Watching him give his small performance, she was impressed especially with how quick his was when changing out the tools in his prosthetic. The woman shook her head almost forgetting why she even came to the shop in the first place, "Say Gobber Hiccup didn't stop by here by chance did he?"

"Nah lass, but he could have dropped off Toothless with Stoick. Thornado being out of the picture the Chief has been looking for another dragon and until then that Night Fury has been doing are sort of odd dragon jobs with the man."

"Thornado's gone?" she pondered aloud.

Realizing the news was new to the girl Gobber explained, "Oh that's right you weren't here. Out taking one of your little breaks from Berk at the time." Eira bowed her head in shame, but he continued, "But yeah the kids found some abandon baby Thunderdrums out at sea and Thornado was the only one who could control them, so he took in the wee things and became a parent and they left Berk."

Her heart soared after hearing the happy tale and she even caught herself rubbing her baby bump. Even the Black smith caught a small glance of her actions, but did not mention it to her. She bid the man goodbye and went to go find her husband. Hopefully, he was at his old home, she did not feel like running all over Berk to find him. On her way to her father-in-law's she ran into the couple of Vikings that were going to help with the reconstruction of her home.

"Greetings Mrs. Haddock and where are you off to in such a hurry?"

The brunet beamed at the titled, "on my way to see the Chief and hopefully catch my husband there."

They let her continue her search and when she was out of sight, they turn to each other, "the boy's dead now."

"Indeed."

Continuing on her path, she ran into Astrid. Neither of the girls said a word to each other. Both of their blue eyes stared at one another. The blonde-haired woman's were hard and glaring at the others was said and apologetic. The blonde woman won their small staring contest making Eira look away and hurried off to her destination.

Arriving there, she took a deep breath from the small confrontation before knocking on the door of the Chief's home. His large frame towered over her making the woman look even smaller than what she appeared. However, under his beard he held a grinning smile. His bear like hand touched her should as his deep voice boomed out his greetings to her.

"Nice to see you too Stoick."

"And how's the little tike in there?" he gestured to her belly. He was thrilled that there was going to be another addition to the family tree. That or he really did love children and babies in general.

She patted her stomach and smiled, "just fine, though it likes to keep me up at night."

He nodded happily, "Means he's got a Viking spirit in him."

"Or she," Eira pointed out and mentally rolled her eyes as Stoick once again brought up the gender debate.

"Oh of course! Speaking of which what are you hoping for?"

The Chief was now all of the sudden very curious at what the new Haddock's gender would be the past weeks. To avoid it she would either brush it off or told him, "Healthy is all I am hoping for at this point."

Again, he bobbed his head content with her answer, for now. Then he remembered what condition she was in and ushered her inside the home to sit. Eira started to laugh at his antics and started to walk inside when they heard a certain holler come from above. Turning their heads to the sky, they were just able to see a familiar figure land right outside the house.

"Whoa! What a rush huh, Bud?" the rider of the dragon hopped off combing his damp hair back while petting his dragon. The Night fury agreed and ecstatically bounced around the boy. Both were wrapped up in each other's joy to notice their audience. Stoick had to give out a small cough to get both boys attention and when the young Haddock realized who stood before them his eyes were as big as an owl's.

"Oh hey there uh Eira," He nervously spat. "I didn't um expect you to be here oh um what I mean to say is what are you doing here so early?"

"Well," she started off calmly however under that calm under tone was clearly her hidden anger for what she caught him doing," I was looking for my wonderful husband who should have been working on our home." She walked up to him and gave a smile towards the man and asked, "Now what exactly are you doing here and flying on Toothless."

Hiccup scratched the back of his neck and looked back and forth at his father and his dragon hoping one of them could be on his defense. Stoick held up his hands and shook his head. He mumbled something about not wanting to be involved and strolled back into his home. Toothless bowed his head and tried not to anger the female anymore than they already had. Hiccup sighed in defeat, but not before calling out to his father, "Thank you Dad!"

Eira waited and crossed her arms while doing so, "Well, do you have an answer made up or are you going to have me stand here all day trying to figure it out?"

He continued to scratch the back of his neck, "No I don't want you to do that. I was going to drop off Toothless." He trailed off a little hoping that she would buy the small lie.

"Toothless," Eira turn her attention to the black winged lizard and sweetly asked, "Can you go back to the house please?" He looked towards his trainer with pleading eyes, but had no other choice when the female reinforced her command. "Now please Toothless. I am sure Dust would like to see you."

Now when Hiccup watched his friend slowly disappear towards their home he felt betrayed, "Some friend you are."

She coughed to grab his attention. Her arms were still crossed and she carefully watched as he fidgets in place.

"Look dear I-"

She put up an index finger up in the air stopping him," Do I need to ask why you were flying on Toothless?"

"No, but Eira you have to understand-"

She repeated her actions once more, "Hiccup should I ask you where you should be right now?"

He shook his head.

"So you'll go home and start on the stables that you said you would do this morning?" She gave him a smile. When seeing it the male sighed in relief knowing she was not as mad as she could be in that moment.

"After I speak with my father I will be right on it," he moved to go inside the house, but she pushed herself in between.

"And I am sure that it can wait till dinner right?"

He pouted, but agreed that it could after some thought.

"Then off to the house you go," She turned him around and began pushing him in the direction.

While the wife was pushing him he chimed in, "Does this mean you're not mad at me and I'm off the hook?"

"Do Gronkles love to sleep?"

He spun around and smiled at her. She smiled back and leaned into the small peck he left on her lips. "You just better take me with you next time!" She called after him as he ran down the hill to be greeted by his best friend. Eira stood there for a couple of minutes looking over the two and lightly touched her lips. The happy reunion of the two reminded the pregnant woman on how she used to be with her dragon and she sighed. "If only Dust could be her normal self again," she thought, "if only I could be." She rubbed her slightly swollen stomach kind of knowing what the female Night Fury was going through.

Stepping inside Stoick's home was still strange to her, yet she always suppressed that feeling allowing the warm welcome the home had to offer. She pulled out one of the chairs he had and sat down next to the Chief. Eira waited for him to speak.

"I hope you didn't punish him too hard this time," he spoke.

She shook her head, "No sir just sent him back to the work he was suppose to do."

The red head shook his head chuckling, "you really are soft on him."

A chuckle escaped her too, "Sometimes that's the best way to get him to do anything."

"And what about with this one? Are you going to be soft of them too?"

"Who knows," she answered with her hand placed on her belly," if they are anything like the men in this family Odin help us all."

Stoick's laughter could be heard around the whole house.

Sweat gathered at his brows as he hammered on one of the post to the new stable. He looked at the plans he made and smiled. Everything seemed to be going according to plan.

"See that Toothless? All we need to do is put on the shingles and check on the stables openings inside and out and you got yourself a new home."

The dragon growled in happiness.

"Don't know what Eira was so worried about."

"Because people who care for others worry about them the most," one of the men told the lad.

Hiccup agreed and continued the work. After the small look around to see what was left the teen decided that, everyone deserved a short break. Most of them went to the Great Hall, while Hiccup went towards the Arena. Apparently, the small school session had just ended and the one legged Viking narrowly escaped the stampede of kids running towards the exit. Luckily, Toothless was there to pull him out of the way and he chuckled. The male standing in the middle of the room was going over his own notes with a sleeping Gronkle by his side when the other rider called out to him.

"Hey Fishlegs!"

The large Viking jumped and the cards he held scattered all over the floor. He swung himself around and was about to scream at the unexpected guest when he realized who it was, "Oh Hiccup it's you. For a second I thought it was Snotlout or the twins."

The dragon trainer gave a disgusted look at being compared to his cousin. He shook the image out and then asked, "Wait so Ruffnut still pulls pranks on you?"

The blonde scratched his cheek and nervously said, "Well yeah she says it makes her happy and it keeps the bond with her brother strong. Besides they aren't as bad as they use to be just the casual sneaking up and all."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow up at that, but it did not seem to bother the man that much, so he paid no more mind to the idea. He instead changed the subject, "so what was today's lesson? And thank you for taking over the classes while I'm busy."

"Oh it was no problem Hiccup and todays class all about the classification of dragons on Berk and their characteristics and which one's would be good for certain riders."

He nodded intrigued with what was taught. However, what Ingerman had to say next scared the next Chief some.

"Although they um somehow ended up deciding what dragon they wanted to ride."

Hoping he was wrong Hiccup asked, "Are you telling me we may have young children out on Berk searching for wild dragons so they could ride them?"

"What no!" Fishlegs said, yet he could not look the young man in the eyes and quietly told him his thoughts, "maybe."

He wanted to scream at the man. Instead, he took a deep breath and as best he could, instructed him to do the following, "Fishlegs I need you to round up those kids and politely tell them the dangers of owning a dragon at their age. The gods know we need another Gustav incident. "

He nodded, but before he left on his Gronkle Meatlug, he told his opinion on a past matter, "Hey Hiccup if it's worth anything I don't know why you were forced to step down as Chief. Yeah, her son died, but if anything you would think Eira should have been-"

Fishlegs never finished his thought for Hiccup cut him off, "Get going Fishlegs before my father comes here and screams at us for another thing we screwed up with."

The heavyset teen nodded and went to do the task he was told. Hiccup sighed when he was left alone with the Night Fury. He turned to his best friend and gave off a small smile as his mind began to race once more.

"I don't know Bud," he started and the dragon gave off his own grumbles of speech, "Is it wrong to say I am glad I'm not the Chief anymore? That my father is better at this than I am. I mean I know I did okay, but I-"

Toothless nudge his human's palm, allowed his fingertips, nails to rub and scratch his muzzle and chin. This was the dragons hope to get the boy to smile and think of happier things and his efforts were not wasted. The lad's crooked grin was on his face making the over sized lizard copy him. Slowly he started to lick his human to the point that the small male stumbled backwards and was cracking up while his face was being attack by the dragon's tongue and spit. When his small pleas were heard Toothless let up and watched as Hiccup stood back up on his feet.

"Okay, okay you made you point jeez how am I going to explain this to Eira?" He looked down at his shirt to see it covered in dragon spit. "She's not going to like you after she sees this Bud."

Toothless rolled his eyes not caring one bit if the human female was mad at him. All he cared about was getting back to their previous work at the home before it started to get too late. After all, they did do the one task they sat out to do on their break and he was not going without a nest one more night. With that, Hiccup hoped on his dragon and they went back towards the house.

When the duo reached their home, Hiccup caught an interesting sight near the back of the home. Dust was there like usual, but she was not alone. There next to the semi relaxed dragon sat his wife who was gently soothing her hand over her scales and humming a soft lullaby. The Night Fury was still on guard and it was quite easy to see with how her body language was reacting to certain sounds the men were making during the construction.

Upon seeing her husband fly in Eira smiled, but continued to keep the stress level of her dragon down. Even some of the workers joined the boy's side when he landed and commented on the scene, more specifically on Eira.

"Who knew that little lady could sing like that."

"If I wasn't married and a few years younger," one of the men said, but was punched in the face on the behalf of Hiccup who was very grateful.

The original rider smiled and listen to her sing, "Well I haven't heard it in a while that's for sure."

"Well it's no wonder why you married her lad."

"One of them agreed and added, "I know if my wife sung like that I wouldn't have to plug my ears at night. Might even get a decent night sleep."

Eira stopped her little melody and turn to the men, "Now I am sure your wife wouldn't be to please to hear that come from you. Besides you must like her for some reason you did marry her."

The male nodded and ended up with a dreamy look on his face, "Ah yes she is the light of my life."

Some of them giggled and snickered at the lovesick dog, but Hiccup managed to round them back in, "Okay enough with the small talk fellas we need to make sure this stable is ready. I am sure Dust would love not to be out in the open with her egg any longer than she needs to be."

They all got to shuffling back to work as Toothless went to join his mate to settle down. The male night Fury watched as the Vikings went inside the two-door entryway of the stable placing random bunches of hay and a large enough slab of metal to fit the trio of dragons. The sun was about to set when the teen called that the place was finished. When it was, Toothless was the first one inside checking his newly furnished home. All the Vikings watched the Night Fury outside carefully.

He walked around cautiously sniffing and looking at every element inside. The dragon scratched at some of the metal bearings that were around the post. He even did his usual sleep setup on the metal slap that was to be their bed. He did not relax for it was only part of his inspection process. Stirring up some of the hay and dirt he waited until it settled down to proceed. He stalked over a good size stone and sniffed it. His teeth became bared immediately after doing so and the men outside waiting barely had a chance to dodge the flying rock that the Night Fury shot out to get rid of it.

"I guess he didn't like your pebble Gywn."

Gywn cried out, "My good boulder!" they all watched as he went chasing after the stone.

The rest of them continued to watch the dragons antics, but soon they all had to duck as toothless came bolting out in a blur almost tackling them all over. He came back with a large hallow out log and happily carried inside the stable. When finally satisfied with the place he came out and walked over to his mate and egg. Carefully he obtained her attention making the human female next to her stop her singing as Dust acknowledge him. She unwrapped herself from her position and gave all who were quick enough to stand to see the beautiful dragon egg that was their hatchling. The mother dragon carried it in her mouth as the father led her to their new nest.

The auburn hair husband helped his pregnant wife to her feet to witness their friends enter their new place.

Everyone was excited and nervous for if the female Night fury did not like it they may have to start from the beginning. She crept slowly inside. Her golden eyes darting every which way and Toothless was not far behind even if he could not tell what she was thinking.

She did not waste time like the male did and headed straight to the still warm metal bed. She laid the egg down carefully and once more repositions herself on top of it, holding in the heat it needed. The way she inspected the room was by seeing and her head was turning very slowly to obtain the view. The only thing her eyes landed on that was not right was the log. Toothless was over by the piece of wood in a blink of an eye and was graciously defending the one touch he personally placed in the nest. Dust looked straight at him and bobbed her head up.

He tilted his head in confusion making her redo the gesture. He moved to the end of the log and she waited patiently for him to do what she was asking. All he did was push the end an inch and turned back to her. A smile graced her muzzle and she finally approved the man made nest they now called their home. The male bounced towards her happily and rested with his small family while taking one more look over the stable. There were three entrances inside the stable. One to the outside that they had entered from, another was a doorway that they could enter the human's home, and then there was of course the small hatch on the stables roof if they choose to use. For now, the other two were closed and the only one being used was the one they entered.

Hiccup and Eira stood there proud at the work that was done to their home and very happy that their friends had a place of their own. Eira held Hiccup's hand and leaned to place a small kiss on his cheek.

"You did a wonderful job _Hiccup._ You all did."

"Thank you miss," replied one of the men and others followed. Hiccup smiled and shook all their hands to thank them.

She also added, "I believe the Great Hall is close to serving dinner. You all are welcome to join us if you want."

"It would be a nice welcome even," the male Haddock encouraged.

Some of them agreed to the offer, while others declined to spend the meal with their own families. Either way it seemed that some normalcy was returning to the island and the couple could not be happier, especially when they were going to start their own generation soon.

**Author's Note: There you have ti the continuation of Dust in the Skies. Sorry for the late update and I do not know how fast I will be posting chapters because of school and since that is more important this is on the back burner and will be updated whenever I get the chance. Other than that tell me what you think of the first chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2:Conversations

**A/n: Hey everyone sorry for the long wait I've been busy with school and the fact that I am dealing with no computer at the moment and I am using my brother's just to update. On other things I had a difficult year with the lost of three family members. but on other notes I am almost done with school and I will be updating as soon as I am able to. So please read, review, and enjoy chapter two.**

**Chapter Two: Conversations**

The walk to the Great Hall was peaceful and as they sat at the table among their friends Eira could not stop complimenting on Hiccup's work on their new home. This only caused the young make to bashfully scratch behind his head denying the perfection that he put into the structure. Some of their friends rolled their eyes, while others agreed with the female beside him. Hiccup changed the subject soon after and the group went back to their normal conversations.

It was half way through their mingling when Hiccup caught sight of Eira giggling at a mindless joke Snotlout told. He smiled at her and reached for her hand under the table. He gave it a squeeze once he held it.

Eira stopped the chuckle and looked at the man beside her. However, his attention was on Fishlegs and Astrid and the conversations about the dragon training going on with the new riders. She laced her fingers with his, enjoying the small touch. This continued until she had to use the restroom. Groaning she got up releasing her husband's hand to go do so. "I swear Hiccup; this child of yours will be the death of me."

"Hopefully not," he grinned as she brushed him off to go do her business. Laughing at her, he turned back to the table.

Astrid took this opportunity to talk to him while the rest were involved in their own side conversation. "So Eira seems to be handling pregnancy well."

The male nodded," yeah, if you don't count the all nighters she's been doing."

The blonde gave a bewildered look, making hiccup explain further.

"She's been having trouble sleeping lately. She always tells me it's because of the growing weight, but." He trailed off with a sigh before collecting his thoughts back in order, "I just don't know what else I can do for her."

"What about the tea my mother gave her?"

"Tea?"

Astrid nodded, "It's just some herbal tea to help you sleep. Most pregnant women drink it when they're about to pop."

"Than why would your mother give it to Eira?" the male asked," and why wouldn't she mention it to me?"

She shrugged and took a sip of her drink, "Don't know. All I know is that my mother found her passed out on the outskirts of the village, gave her some tea, and walked her home."

Astrid watched Hiccup's face when processing the information. His brow was knotted as his eyes darted back and forth. Then there was the way his buck teeth bit the bottom of his lip just enough where it was barely noticeable unless you were really studying him. All this made the girl on the other side of the table sigh internally as she tried not to focus on those details that her married friend possessed.

She was about to say something to ease him when Eira came back with a handful of rolls.

"Hey they are serving honey buns if anyone wants any!" The brunet exclaimed happily as she sat back down next to Hiccup. He shifted over on the bench without looking at her making her slightly confused as she looked at him, "Did I miss something?"

"Nope, but thanks for the grub," Tuffnut answered as he reached for the sweet coated bread out of Eira's tray.

She slapped his hand away, knocking the bun back with the others. "These are not for you. They are for me."

"But you have like five of them!"

"And all of them belong to me and going straight towards the child in my gut," she explained, "unless you really want to see what happens when you come in between a pregnant woman and her food."

The male twin pouted and stood up, "Whatever. Come on Snotlout let's go get some before all the pregnant women eat all the food."

Both the women who were pregnant rolled her eyes. However, to rub it in the twin's face she slowly enjoyed the bite of the honey roll. His reaction of disgust and annoyance made the rest of the group laugh as he huffed off. At least all, but one at the table laughed.

Hiccup sat at the table still thinking about what Astrid had said a moment ago. Seeing her husband's quiet demeanor she offered him a bun and a small smile. When he didn't acknowledge her offer she placed a hand on his shoulder. He jumped at the contact and she quickly apologized. When he calmed down she asked him, "IS there something bothering you?"

"I'm fine," he answered.

"That's not what I asked Hiccup."

He sighed and told her, "I'll talk about it later. Right now I just want to enjoy the rest of this night."

"Okay," she said and scooted the tray of bread closer to him. "Honey buns will help you do that."

A small smile escaped his lips, but shook his head declining the offer. "Nah, they're yours. Besides I think this one needs them more than me." He reached under the table to place a hand on the small bump of her stomach that her shirt covered. Immediately, her hand covered his and they both smiled at each other.

A loud cough ruin the couple's moment of happiness and when they realized the others were staring at them they pulled apart and blushed. Both tried to stammered out what they were hoping was an apology, but neither could get the words right. Luckily for them Ruffnut brought the attention onto her.

"Damn it, this thing inside me kicks like I'm target practice," she groaned. When the pain subsided she turned to the other female in her situation and asked, "what about you Eira feeling anything like this yet?"

Shaking her head she answered with a bit of fear in her voice, "No, not yet. It's been smooth sailing so far."

"Except at night apparently," Astrid commented while taking another sip of her mug.

Hiccup's eyes widen in shock as Eira's were more of puzzlement. She was about to ask the dragon rider how she even knew of her sleep patterns when Ruffnut once again drew the attention to her.

Fishlegs being by her side tried to comfort the pregnant wife. She only groaned more however, but not because of the infant inside her. No, this was a groan of frustration towards the man she married who kept asking if she was alright.

"I would be if you would get out of my face." To make her point clear she pushed his own face almost making him fall over. The girl than took her hands and rubbed the swollen five month gut all while taking deep breathes.

The largest Viking out of the bunch regain his balanced and sat there looking like a beaten puppy. This did not stop him or his caring heart to ask more questions about his wife's condition. "Are you doing what Gothi said to do?"

"Yes," she dragged out.

"And the oil?" he asked, "You've been rubbing it on every night?"

"You know I have," she snapped banging her fist on the wooden table.

Everyone still at the table sat in an awkward silence waiting for someone to gain the courage to speak. Unfortunately, the one who did have the courage was Fishlegs.

"Maybe you should try some warm honey milk. That might keep the baby calm in there."

They all waited in anticipation for the female twin's reaction.

Ruffnut placed her forehead on the table making everyone worry, especially her worrywart husband. In a few seconds she sat up and quietly stood up rubbing her slightly swollen belly. Turning to the group she stated, "if anyone else is concern with my own body well than," she trailed off. Then a loud thus echoed through the hall as she punched the table and screamed, "You can shut it! Especially you!" She singled out Fishlegs before stomping away out of the Great Hall.

Poor Fishlegs sat there like a boulder had been dropped on him and it was only when Eira spoke did he snap out of it.

"Maybe you should go after her Fishlegs."

He thought the idea was good, until he saw his two friends shake their heads rapidly. Meekly he told them all, "I think I'll just leave her be and give her some space. I'll just go home till she cools off."

All of them agreed and when Fishlegs was leaving the two boys that left for sweet buns return with their arms full of them. The male twin with his mouthful noticed and asked, "Where's he going?"

"Home," Astrid answered, "and so am I."

"And so are we," Hiccup said helping Eira up off the bench. "Besides I still need to speak with my father since someone made me work on a building a house today." He gave a sly smile towards his wife.

Eira rolled her eyes while getting up, "Well it was either you working all day on that or explaining to your father why we need to move back into his home again with our dragons."

"Yeah," Hiccup dragged out," much rather have the house."

She giggled at that and the three made their way out of the Hall, leaving the two others alone with their biscuits. Although Tuffnut was confused by everyone's leaving, it didn't stop him or his best bud from having an eating contest with the precious rolls.

Outside on the steps of the Great Hall the Haddock couple shouted their goodbyes to the Hofferson girl, who was already half way down the stairway. Eira's face fell immediately as soon as Astrid turned away. Hiccup caught a glimpse of this and his brow scrunched with worry, "Is there something going on between you and-"

She cut him off, "No! No, we're fine." Her voice was not as convincing as she wanted it to be so she continued to convinced him, "I'm a little bit tired is all."

"Well why don't you take this little one and yourself back to the house to get some rest," he suggested. "Besides you don't need to be with me to talk to my dad."

She gave him a yawn and he took it as her accepting the offer. Hiccup walked with Eira to the bottom of the steps and waited until she was out of sight towards their home before heading off to find his father.

He went to his old home first. He still had the habit of walking right in. releasing what he did he cringed. That feeling disappeared and he called out to his old man. The answered he received was a loud sound of shuffling in the back bedroom and then a crash.

"Dad!"

"I'm okay!" Stoick called out. Shortly later his big frame came into sight. He pulled up his belt and straightened it before giving his offspring his full attention. "Now what can I do you for son?"

"Actually," he shifted his footing side to side, "I had a question about Eira."

The father raised an eyebrow and pulled up a seat at the table. He gestured to a chair across from him and the son gladly took it.

"So what about Eira are you worried about?"

The sigh Hiccup let out was a long one and he sat there a few moments trying to piece together his thoughts.

"I don't really know how to ask this," he stated.

"Just saying it would be the easiest way."

He nodded casting his eyes downward. "How do you- what I mean is what do you say? No, that's not it. I mean how was," he trailed off in frustration and pushed his bangs back.

Stoick becoming worries about his son, stopped his rambling and asked, "What is wrong with Eira, Hiccup?"

"She's not sleeping at night." Those five words were enough to get the ball rolling for Hiccup to explain everything that had been going on and what was bothering him.

Stoick listen carefully over all the details the worry teen brought to him and when he was done he put in his two cents. "That's a lot to take in son."

"I know, but I-"

Stoick cut him off, "Let me finish." Hiccup nodded and allowed his father to continue, "All I can tell you is what my father told me. I know you are young to be married, but because you are marriage requires you to talk to each other and if you cannot, well then."

"Yeah, but how do I tell her all that."

"Exactly how you told me," He stood up and walked over to him and placed his hand on his small shoulder. "Look Hiccup secrets in a marriage will break it apart. Just tell Eira and who knows maybe it's the same thing that's keeping her up at night as well."

"But what if her not sleeping is affecting our child? I have a right to be concern with that, don't I?" he asked in desperation.

Stoick could not deny that and he nodded his head, "Aye, but from what you said she is taking care of it."

That did not ease the lad at all and he sighed bowing his head in defeat. His father seeing this tried one more shot at trying to help his boy.

"I know it's not an easy thing to do Hiccup, but maybe telling her your concerns will get her to open up her own. That is all the advice I can give you."

"Yeah," he said as he let all the information process.

"Now why don't you go back to her and get some sleep yourself." He pulled his son up on his feet and waited until he started to move towards the door to say his goodbyes.

Hiccup on the other hand was hoping for more answers than questions as he left his father's place, but he figured there was no point in prying for anything else from his dad at the moment. Therefore, the young Haddock made his way back to his home. Before he left his old home his dad had one more thing to say.

"Say Hiccup I saw the new addition to your home. It's pretty impressive."

"Yeah?"

The Chief nodded stroking his red beard in thought, "I believe that we should start on plans for others."

Taken back he gapped his mouth open, "Are- are you serious?"

Nodding once again he replied, "I better see you bright and early at Gobber's tomorrow drawing up those plans."

"But why?" he asked, "Not that I'm complaining I'm just why all of the sudden do you want this?"

"Well I can't have dragons breaking people homes just because they want to rest on roofs, can I?"

Hiccup agreed to the reasoning and before it could get any later he headed towards the newly redone house.

Stoick turned back to his home after closing the front door as his son left. The house's fire pit was dimly lit when he sat down in his chair. He began to poke at the embers hoping it would ignite once more. The house was silent and the cold only made his loneliness sink in deeper. Thornado use to keep him company when nights were like this, but now he was alone. Hiccup would have his own family soon and Gobber was too busy with his shop to come over lately and drink with him. The Chief sighed and realized that the pit was a lost cause and stood up to head to bed. He would just have to keep warm by himself once again.


	3. Chapter 3: More Sleep

**A/N: I know it has been a while, but school, family, and life in general have been hard and I barely had time to do anything to relax or even write. However, I was able to write this small chapter up for this story and I am pleasantly happy with it and I hope you are too. Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to everyone! please Read and Review and Enjoy.**

**Chapter Three: More Sleep**

****_She jolted up in bed. Her heart was racing and she could barely catch her breath. Her hand clutched her chest trying to keep the drumming heart inside. Her husband next to her was in sluggish state of waking up and mumbled out, "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"_

_She shook her head and in a hush voice she told him, "Another bad dream is all."_

_ "__Well it was just a dream," he turned over, "besides that dragon is never coming back here."_

_She nodded, "right. I'm going to get a drink."_

_Hiccup never answered for he was already back to sleep._

_She maneuvered herself out of bed and grabbed one of the many fur blankets in their home before entering the cool night air._

_The forest was dark and the only light she had was the waning moon. Carefully she tried not to trip over the exposed root system of the surrounding trees. The fur around her was pulled closer as the wind blew past her. After a few more minutes she made to her destination. She knelt down in front of a stone that sat away from the others. Her blue eyes stared at the rock for some time. Unable to say what she wanted, she only rubbed the small bump of her stomach that was her child. When her mind was convinced that the thing packed underneath the cold dirt was still there she leaned on the rock to stand up. In a split second a cold hand covered in soil was clamped on her wrist like an iron vice. Eira panicked and with all her might she struggled to pull her hand free. When it was finally setting in that her feverish pulls to get free were worthless she tried to scream, but no sound came out. Peering down she realize the dirt around the unnatural colored arm was becoming loose and slowly showing more of the body that rest underneath it. Eira's heart was pounding harder that she thought it would stop at any moment and as more of the dirt fell away from the rotting skin of the corpse she became more frighten. As her eyes paid attention to the dirt that kept falling she saw that all too soon she was going to meet the person buried underneath once again and her worse fear was that it was going to win this time. That is until…_

She snapped up in her warm bed inside her wooden house perfectly safe. A cold sweat covered her skin as she hyperventilated beside her sleeping spouse. Her arms wrapped around her torso to keep herself from violently shake her husband awake. When she looked over at the thought of Hiccup she sighed in relief to see him still sleeping, but from the facial expressions he made it seemed that it was not an easy task with her at the moment. For the time being, she laid her head back down on the pillow and closed her eyes trying to hold back the tears and her whimpers. In her head she kept repeating the same words she said to herself whenever this happen, "It was only a dream, just a dream."

When Eira was calm enough to move again, she got out of bed as quiet as possible. She carried one of the now burning candles from the bedroom into the main room of the home where the fire pit sat. It was a tough task to ignite it once more for her hands were still shaking from the dream and it was causing her hands to slip. The last attempt she made caused her to make the smallest cut on her hand.

"Damn," she cursed dropping everything to hold her hand.

"Are you okay?"

Looking up at the bedroom door she saw Hiccup standing there with a tired concern look upon his face.

"Fine," she said, "I just couldn't get a fire going." She looked down at her cut and groaned, "You can see where that got me."

Hiccup was now awake and went over to see. His face flooded with worry when he saw the cut and he quickly placed a strip of cloth over the wound. "You need to be more careful."

He helped her up and brought her over to the dinner table with the candle. As she sat down, his next step was bring over one of their wooden bowls and some water to clean the wound. When that was complete he wrapped her hand in a clean bandage.

As Hiccup was doing all this, the only thing Eira could do was smile at him. When he tied the knot finishing the job she happily told him, "you're going to be a great father Hiccup."

"Eh," he gave her his signature smirk and pulled up a chair next to her. "We'll find out just how good when this one gets here," he made a gestured to her belly. When he did she placed her now bandaged hand over it making him change the subject that she was trying to avoid. "Was it the baby keeping you up again?"

Eira agreed not wanting to tell him the real reason why she woke up at night. "I was going to make some tea, but couldn't get the stupid pit going."

"Tea?" he raised a brow like it was the first time he heard about it.

Her blue eyes widen realizing her mistake and she closed her eyes and bit her lip knowing that there was no way around it. Sighing she finally explained one of the things she had been hiding from him for the past weeks. "One of the women in the village gave it to me."

"But why?"

She couldn't look at him as she told him and casted her head downward, "I fell asleep in the middle of the day some time ago and I woke with one of the women asking me if I was alright. I told her I was, but I think she knew and the net thing I knew she gave me that small bag over there." Eira pointed to where their spices were kept and Hiccup got up to see himself.

When he looked through them and found the small brown sack he held it up to her, "This one?"

She nodded.

"What does this do exactly?"

"Just calms people back down enough to fall back asleep."

After hearing that he went over to start the fire pit and making his wife the drink she needed. As he was watching the leaves boil the smell of it was not best thing he ever smelled nor was it the worse. However because of its odor he was curious and concern over it. "This stuff doesn't harm the baby does it? I mean I never heard of it so I'm just wondering. I don't want my wife drinking anything that hurts them or my family."

Touched by his words she reassured him that it was completely safe and apparently all pregnant women did drink it during their pregnancies. Satisfied with her answer he turn his attention back to the small pot filled with the liquid.

A few minutes past and soon Hiccup was bringing Eira a small mug of the hot tea. She gratefully accepted the drink and blew away the steam coming from it so she could take a sip. When she did her face crunched up in disgust as the taste sat on her tongue.

Laughing Hiccup asked, "How is it?"

"Bitter like always," she gaged out shaking her head and preparing herself for another taste. After the taste subsided they looked at one another and chuckled. They sat in silence for a few moments enjoying the sound of the crackling fire and snores coming from the two sleeping dragons in the stable that was attached. Although all Eira wanted was a quite calm place after the dream she had, it began to become nerve racking and she tap her fingers on her mug.

"Say what time is it?" she asked.

He shrugged not knowing the answer and they both got another laugh from it. Soon he got up and got his own drink. When he sat back down he saw Eira rubbing her abdomen while taking more sips of the apparently horrible tasting tea. Hiccup sighed, "Eira."

"Hm?" the brunet looked over at her husband.

"Does the babe really cause you this much trouble?"

The look of his green eyes made her want to tell him the truth, but with the fear still circling inside her Eira couldn't bring herself to do so. She casted her head down afraid to look at him. However, by doing this Hiccup got his answer and reached over the gap between them and grabbed her hands. As soon as she felt his grip she slowly began to lose it and let a few of her tears fall. They landed on her lap and their hands. Taking one of his hands away from hers he lift her chin to look at her. When their eyes made contact with each other all she could blubber out was, "I just want to sleep Hiccup."

It was enough motive to drop his question and scoop her up in his arms. She gave a surprise gasp as he wobbled a bit to hold her weight and his first step were not as strong as he had hope, but he made it with her to their bed and laid her on her side. He pulled the covers to her shoulders and brushed her bangs away from her face. Wiping away any leftover tears that escaped he kissed her forehead and made his way to his own side to snuggle in next to her. His arms wrapped around her waist and rubbed small circles over the bump of his child that she carried.

Even with all his hard work all Eira could do was toss and turn even when he was fast asleep and she couldn't even drink enough of the tea concoction to be knocked out by it. She tried different sleep positions for a good hour, but on the last turn she had done caused the man beside her to be awake once again.

"Hiccup?" she asked softly, but all she received was him pulling her close and allowing her head to rest on his chest.

"Shhh," was all he said as he ran his fingers through her unwoven hair. The soft touches and the lulling rhythm of his heart beat was enough to cause her breathing to even out and her eyes to fall heavy. When he felt her stone weight on him he gave a small smile and kiss the top of her head. "Sweet dreams Eira, sweet dreams."


	4. Author's Note

Author's Note: Sorry for this kind of update, but it's good and bad news... mostly good. First off, I am in my last semester of college and will be graduating with my bachelors woo! How is this good news? Well means more time for stories when I am done! Now the bad news, I am more worried on completing school than writing, so I will be writing on when I have time and I need to destress so updates will come when they come, sorry. Another lame note I am currently stuck on continuing Dust in the Skies: Hatchlings. I know where I am going with the next chapters, they are just not coming out the way I am hoping and I refuse to turn in anything I am not proud of. To end on a good note however, I am writing random chapters for Dust in the Skies sequel so that the inspiration lives. I actually finished a chapter which tells you the gender of Hiccup and Eira's baby and of course the name. So just be patient and I will update as soon as I am able to.


	5. Another note for you

Okay I know it's been a long time posting, but I am working on getting my career in order. In the mean time I am working on two things. One I am working on the sequel of Dust in the Skies: Hatchlings. Two, in between working on the sequel when I am stuck on the progress I am re-writing the original Dust in the Skies. The reason for this is to improve my writing and also some of the scenes I have done I want to re-write and add details or make more clearer for you the reader.

Thank you for understanding and supporting me!


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